Two dudes kill a troll using magic and no one is using Reagents? WHAT?

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-man-troll-boss-kill.35168/page-2#post-404675

Are you kidding me?

No reagents were used in the killing of this Troll?

How, why, what are we doing here?!

I just don't get it. Who is this combat system being made for? Why do we even have reagents? Why are they a part of our crafting system?

How can every developer not be as outraged as I am about this?

The moment this troll was killed by magic without any reagents being used, Richard Garriott should have frozen in place, looked up into the sky and said "I sense a disturbance. A dark force I have not encountered for a very long time." Then he should have got into his space ship, flown back to Austin, kicked in the doors to the development offices and said "Have at thee!"

...and defeated whatever horrible design demon has taken over this game.

 

Hmmm....this mysteriously sounds like another pre-alpha-needs-balance thread.

 

Could someone provide me with a date when the combat system will be balanced? Because I tend to think that the design is supposed to inherently appear balanced at least on paper.

So right now our design appears to be reagents don't matter. What am I missing? What future change should I be waiting for?

Also, if I'm not supposed to give this feedback now, what future date should I be providing this feedback?

 

Having no reagents is meant to cause the spell to have a higher chance to fizzle, just today I started using chain lightning with reagents and they're not always used which I think is by design, perhaps the fizzle part just hasn't been implemented for reagents yet.

 

Unfortunately the fizzle part has been there for months. It may be bugged for R20?

My concern is that everytime we seem to change something for reagents, they become less and less important to the game. The only thing we seem to care about in this combat system is how much DPS you can generate with your character build. Reagents simply don't factor into that design.

 

The date for balance?

My guess is that it will equal the date that beta ends + 45 days.

 

Ok, so until then is it ok if I give feedback? (Btw, I'm totally still giving feedback even if you say it's not ok)

See, the way I see it. The whole point of this itterative design is so we can give feedback as we go.

If I don't give feedback, then the devs can't change course. If they can't change course, then when beta ends + 45 days is going to be a little late to give feedback.

Savvy?

 

IMO reags should always be needed for casting spells but that wont happen i think.
as it is now its just horrible..

 

But what is more important than DPS? ;-)

 

Phat 1337z!

 

Now out of curiosity, are you suggesting that regeants be required AND reduce fizzle rate? Or just be mandatory?

 

I like all three. But I'm kind of done suggesting things about reagents. I've put in my time there already.

So instead I'm just saying that if two guys killing a troll without reagents is some kind of low point in our combat system. Then we've found that low point and we should actively work to improve the situation.

If that means what you mentioned in the quote above, great. If there's some other magical solution to be found, wonderful. But the way it currently works makes me want to never use magic EVER just to spite this horrible horrible lack of design.

Why does someone use reagents? If the answer is "Because they don't wear cloth armor." That's a pretty horrible answer.

 

....calm down. pre-alpha. the sky is not falling.

 

This is the same thing they said last year, and it's gotten worse since last year.

Having followed A LOT of games during development, this isn't a good sign. The developers are clearly not getting the message that reagents are pointless.

@Chris
@DarkStarr

I never see reagents sold by public or private vendors. There's some stats to look up.

 

I can vouch for the higher fizzle rate when you don't use reagents I have run out of reagents when battling elves in the forests and higher tier area affect spells (i.e., death field, immolation, earthquake, etc.) fizzle quite a bit (roughly 1/3 of the time ) without them (In fact you get to see the fizzle animation when that happens...)

So, yes, reagents really do matter

 

But that's relative, Gabriel. If you're wearing plate, correct?

 

I'll assume it's true that if you use heavier armor you can't cast all the spells without some fizzle.

But what I'm angry about is that players that don't use heavy armor don't have to care about reagents at all. That's not what was originally designed, and it's not something that was discussed as being a change. It simply never got implemented that way.

And here we are months (if not a year) later and two guys are beating a troll and they're not even using reagents. That's how pointless it is.

 

No, I am wearing leather armor
I would think the fizzle rate would be much higher with plate armor (as it should be...)

 

Ok, then I would say that the fizzle amount is not high enough without reagents because two guys are killing a troll without reagents.

 

Well, the guy in plate only casts 3 spells.. Healing Touch, Death Touch, and Healing Ray. And he also spent passive points to reduce his fizzle rate...

The guy in cloth...Well, he is wearing cloth.